Servitor
Servitor]] A Servitor is the catch-all term applied to a wide class of mindless, cybernetic drones created from a fusion of human flesh and robotic technology that are used to carry out simple, manual tasks across the Imperium of Man. While many of these programmable cybernetic slaves are genetically-engineered, vat-grown sub-human clones or replicae created by the Adeptus Mechanicus from human genomes who have their bionic implants installed after "birth," others were once truly human. These Servitors were usually criminals who fell afoul of Imperial Law, particularly a person who has offended or damaged the Adeptus Mechanicus in some fashion. These unfortunate criminals will be sentenced to Servitude Imperpituis by the Arbitrators or Judges of the Adeptus Arbites and will be handed over to the Mechanicus' Tech-priests to be mind-wiped, reprogrammed, and cybernetically-enhanced to serve some specific, rudimentary function. Once lobotomised and "improved," by process of painful operations, even criminals and Heretics are granted one last chance to serve the Imperium. Servitors are generally mindless, semi-organic robots, possessing only the most basic of instincts, though some are fully capable of speech if such functions and knowledge are programmed into them. Their brains are programmed to perform only the task they were designed for, whether that be maintenance, construction, or even warfare. The altered and fragmented brain of a Servitor functions poorly unless constantly supervised. Most will eventually go into a state of mindlock, babbling incoherent nonsense as the Servitor tries to assert some form of control over its functions. Servitors are created by the Adeptus Mechanicus on their Forge Worlds, and supplied to departments of the Adeptus Terra such as the Administratum and to the Inquisition, as well as to military organisations like the Astra Militarum and various Space Marine Chapters. Servitors make up the vast bulk of the population of Mars and other Forge Worlds of the Mechanicus, where they fulfill the role of tireless workers, soldiers and labourers. There are many types of Servitor, each designed for a certain task. Typical Servitor types include "Technomats" which operate and service various machines, "Holomats" which act as holographic recording devices, "Lexomats" which serve as semi-organic computers with tremendous calculating powers for record-keeping and data storage, and "Drones" which are cybernetic robots -- stupid and essentially mindless slaves ideal for menial work and little else. There are also guardian or technical Servitors, or the more powerful Kataphron Battle Servitor which is a mainstay of the Mechanicus' military forces. Another common form of Servitor is that of a gun carrier. Fitted with heavy weapons whose chattering volleys can drive back the foe, such Servitors allow an Enginseer to make repairs uninterrupted. All Imperial Servitors carry identification numbers, and Battle Servitors are no different. These numbers and the clade or unit to which they belong become their entire identity, their every action driven by their limited programming, for only malfunctioning Servitors develop any sense of self-awareness. A Servitor's functions are always rudimentary at best, regardless of its type -- be it a Construction Servitor, Maintenance Servitor, Battle Servitor, or any other configuration. Servitors are often used to carry out the more dangerous or laborious duties in the Imperium, such as heavy mining in hostile planetary or asteroid conditions. They also accompany Tech-priest Enginseers on the battlefield with the Astra Militarum, as well as the Space Marines' Techmarines. Servitors make effective battle-line troops, but only when shepherded by a Tech-priest who can engage the raw circuitry of their minds to direct their unthinking aggression. Without such guidance Servitors do little but fire wildly, and may even wander off without warning in pursuit of some erroneous protocol.These types aid in the repair of vehicles or sometimes carry large and dangerous weapons such as Plasma Cannons. For both Imperial military forces, the Servitors are practically identical cybernetically, although the Servitors of some Space Marine Chapters are created from failed Astartes Initiates who were made largely brain-dead as a result of their body's rejection of their implanted Space Marine gene-seed organs before their transformation into cyborgs. However, becoming a Servitor allows them another opportunity to serve their Chapter and the Emperor. Perhaps the most feared of all the Servitors are the Praetorian Servitors, a class of heavily-armed and armoured Gun Servitors deployed by the Adeptus Mechanicus to guard the Tech-priests and temples dedicated to the Machine God. Notable Servitor Classes Attempting to count all the types of Servitors within the realm of the Imperium would be impossible. The following are the most well-known variants commonly seen throughout the galaxy: *'Arco-Flagellant' - For those Heretics found guilty of heresies of insufficient severity to warrant immediate execution, there is another fate in store: arco-flagellation. An Arco-Flagellant undergoes an extended program of surgical modification, including muscle grafts, combat drug injections, and cybernetically-implanted weaponry. At the same time, the subject's mind is reconditioned to turn him into a berserk killing machine who seeks only to destroy enemies of the Emperor. *'Battle Servitors' - A Battle Servitor is a dedicated heavy combat Servitor used for melee or ranged combat. Battle Servitors comprise a significant portion of the Adeptus Mechanicus' military forces, but other patterns of Battle Servitor are used by many military organisations within the Imperium. Battle Servitors are much more robust and powerful military cyborgs than their Combat Servitor counterparts. **'Battle Servitor (Charron Pattern)' - The Charron Pattern is a light Battle Servitor, humanoid in shape, found often in the service of the Imperial Navy and numerous other star vessels as shock troops and defenders in boarding actions. They can be armed with heavy weapons such as Heavy Bolters or Heavy Flamers for voidship combat. Those found in the Koronus Expanse are often very old, their inorganic components having been recycled through numerous bodies and recovered from the fallen of the battlefield. As a result they have a reputation for their Machine Spirits being unreliable in combat and not knowing friend from foe on occasion. This makes some voidship captains reluctant to employ them save in the direst need. **'Kataphron Battle Servitor' - A Kataphron Battle Servitor is a type of heavy Battle Servitor used by the military forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Though they possess a once-human brain like all Servitors, the Kataphron Battle Servitor has been severed from all emotion and independent thought, and serves as little more than a living weapon controlled by the orders of the Mechanicus' Tech-priests. They are much larger and more powerful than the standard Servitors employed for multiple tasks across the Imperium of Man. There are two variants of the Kataphron Battle Servitor normally employed depending on the tactical objective of the controlling Tech-adepts -- the Kataphron Breacher and the Kataphron Destroyer. *'Calligraphus Servitor' - Outfitted with a cluster of manipulator arms, each tipped with various writing instruments, a Calligraphus Servitor is capable of copying practically any document they are given. They can also transcribe spoken words, and are often used to preserve sermons and speeches as well as taking dictation for letters, orders, and regulations. Many high-ranking members of the Ordos of the Inquisition have at least one Calligraphus Servitor on hand, while large Imperial monasteries and abbeys may have hundreds, usually engaged in replicating and preserving ancient texts. *'Calyx Pattern Task Servitor' - The Calyx Pattern Task Servitor is one of the most commonly seen pieces of technology in the Calixis Sector, possessing thousands of variants and sub-patterns produced on Forge Worlds across the region. At its essence, the design is for a Servitor utterly devoted to performing a single technical task with the utmost specialisation. The Enginseers attached to combat regiments are often granted the use of one of a number of sub-patterns of the Calyx Servitor specifically designed for maintenance and repair of military equipment. *'Cenobyte Servitor' - The Cenobyte Servitors assist the Chaplains of the Black Templars Space Marine Chapter in their holy duties. Marching in the shadow of the Chaplain, they are used for carrying relics into battle, intoning prayers of worship to the Emperor, and bolstering the faith of nearby Battle-Brothers. They often carry equipment, repair technology, and operate basic interfaces on Black Templars vessels and vehicles. They are considered a symbol of the Chapter's faith, as a Black Templars Battle-Brother can gain the service of such a Servitor as a symbol of status and trust from his peers. *'Combat Servitors' - Combat Servitors are modified mono-task lifter Servitors intended to fight in close melee combat, and they are normally equipped with some form of Power Fist or Power Sword in place of their lifter arms. **'Clipaeus-class Combat Servitor' - The rare and valuable Clipaeus-class Combat Servitor is typically reserved for Tech-Priests who have proven their worth to the Lathes. The Lathes Mechanicum maintains limited reserves of these servitors to assign as protectors to those of those attached to the Imperial Guard who have similarly proven themselves as assets to the efforts of the war effort on the Spinward Front. The Tech-Priests granted the protection of a Clipaeus-class servitor find no better guardian for their work on the battlefield, as the whole of the pattern's advanced construction is geared towards delivering lethal retribution upon would-be assailants. Although armed with a deadly electro-gladius, its greatest value is in the protective field generator that allows it to shrug off deadly blows again and again over the course of continued service. A serious assault can briefly overwhelm the field, but few enemies survive long enough to exploit this vulnerability. **'Lathe Pattern Breacher Servitor' - Although most commonly deployed to mining colonies, the Lathe-pattern Breacher Servitor also sees considerable combat use among sappers and siege regiments. The adamantium-tipped drills replacing its hands serve just as well in forcing entry to enemy strongholds as they do in unearthing ore deposits far from the front lines. Tech-Priests well-versed in the rites of servitor cogitation mechanisms sometimes find it appropriate to develop protocols for applying the drills to smaller-scale clashes as well, allowing them to direct the piercing bite of the drills at heavily armoured enemies. By this means, a Breacher Servitor can be the bane of not only a fortress wall, but the elite troops guarding it. **'Pugnis-class Combat Servitor' - Pugnis-class Combat Servitors are commonly used as a combination bodyguard and shock troop by the soldiers and auxiliaries of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Its robust frame is equipped with two massive servo-fists that can pummel apart even the hardiest enemies. Many Tech-Priests placed on the front lines of battle owe their lives to the impressive strength these Servitors wield in their defence. The most martially inclined among the Red Priesthood sometimes gather groups of these servitors together for assaults on enemy positions. **'Spatha Pattern Combat Servitor' - Originally intended as a heavy-duty utility Servitor that could operate in hazardous conditions, the Spatha Pattern Servitor first gained notoriety during the ill-fated Siege of Cyclopea. Home to a host of Imperial research stations manned only with Servitors, three raider vessels entered the star system in the hopes of boarding and pillaging whatever they could before Imperial forces could respond. The Fabricator that controlled the network of Cyclopean stations had no choice but to do the unthinkable, and modify the Spatha engram patterns so that he could repel the invaders. Astonishingly, the Spatha Pattern Servitors proved to be better at this task than their previous duty, their heavy armour and mechanical attachments making them natural Combat Servitors. It took a further 50 standard years for the leaders of the Lathe Worlds to sanction the Fabricator's variant design, a relatively short approval period by Mechanicus standards, but by then the notoriously impatient man had taken the design and already left the Calixis Sector for greener pastures. In more recent years, Spatha Pattern Servitors have been pressed into service as bodyguards in some of the more remote areas of the Lathe Worlds. **'Velox Pattern Security Servitor' - Found mostly on research stations across the Lathe Worlds, as well as Explorator vessels leaving the Calixis Sector for regions unknown, the Velox is an exceptionally fast and overly-aggressive type of Combat Servitor, programmed to track down and eliminate would-be intruders. Tightly bundled coils of vat-grown muscle give the Servitor its incredible speed and dexterity, and its arms each mount an integrated coil-whip, which the Velox tends to use in a frenzied spinning motion, pulverising whatever happens to be in its way. Kept dormant when not in use, they are rightly feared by friend and foe alike. *'Contego Pattern Bomb Disposal Servitor' - The Contego-Pattern servitor is optimised for the analysis and defusing of suspect explosive devices. The underhive of Gunmetal city is notoriously unstable, and explosive devices can cripple production for months or years. The Adeptus Mechanicus within the manufactorums originally crafted this servitor to dispose of volatile substances (which are common in firearms manufacturing). These designs are regarded as relatively disposable, and are usually based around the lobotomised bodies of former arsonists and bomb makers. An up-armoured general purpose servitor chassis is fitted with a small limb-mounted shotgun pistol (for destroying explosive devices at close range), a combi-tool, and a pict-recorder. The local Precinct Fortresses have re-purposed the servitor for explosive disposal. When fitted for this purpose the servitor is issued a demolition charge for controlled explosions. While used in the notorious 'Falls Incident' which halted laspack production on Synford for nearly a year, the servitor has not fallen out of favour with Calixian Adeptus Arbites. *'Gun Servitors' - Gun Servitors are intended to provide fire support for a Tech-priest as he works, and often they will have whole limbs replaced with cybernetically-implanted weapons. Many will have ammunition hoppers mounted somewhere on their bodies so they can lay down continuous curtains of fire without needing to reload. **'Incendio-class Gun Servitor' - The Incendio-class Gun Servitor is a favourite of Enginseers assigned to the trenches of the Spinward Front, where a gout of burning promethium can turn the tide of a battle. It mounts a flamer integrated in place of its right arm, and stores the fuel in an armoured compartment in the lower torso—a design that limits the vulnerability of such a volatile fuel source to enemy fire. When directed to the fore of the squad, the Servitor can engage its flame to flush the enemy from cover or out of bunkers, or simply roast them where they stand. **'Jovian Pattern Gun Servitor' - The Jovian- Pattern Gun Servitor has been a mainstay of the Lathe Worlds' fighting forces for millennia, having been employed to defend Enginseers on the field of battle, and in a variety of other roles since the foundation of the Calyx Expanse. Its STC pattern is ancient and revered, and the heavy firepower of the Jovian-pattern fabricated in the Lathes has heralded victories throughout the Calixis Sector. The pattern is defined by its durable construction, heavy power supply, and massive integrated weapon systems. The entirety of the servitor is carefully constructed to optimise firepower for its main gun. *'Herakli Servitor' - Herakli Servitors are large, vat-grown, genetically-enhanced Combat Servitors who carry multi-barrelled Assault Cannons and Heavy Lasers as easily as a Skitarii carries a Lasgun. They were utilised during the Horus Heresy era, but are rarely seen in the present day. *'Historitor' - A Historitor is a Servitor that has been tasked with maintaining a chronicle of events by drawing on all known open sources of data, including planetary databases and astropathic relays. Such was the turmoil during the creation of the Great Rift in 999.M41 and the period following it known as the Noctis Aeterna that there could be no reliable accounts of Imperial history. As limited communications slowly returned, Historitors and their living counterparts, the Chronotechs, struggled to understand incoming reports. With the influx of Warp energies into such vast regions of realspace during the Blackness, time passed strangely, speeding up in some sectors, slowing in others compared to the sidereal time experienced on Terra, at the heart of the Imperium. *'Industrial or Heavy Repair Servitor' - These Servitors have been modified with rigs to lift loads, drill rocks or smash ore in one of the Imperium's countless industrial complexes, or are fused with specialised repair gear and are responsible for the maintenance of all or part of an industrial complex. *'Janus Simulacra' - These human-form Servitors are advanced indeed, often containing only the barest minimum of living tissue. They skirt the edge of the direst techno-heresy with their Cogitator-assisted cortex functions and seeming parody of human responses. Playthings of the most fantastically wealthy, Simulacra are often fashioned in the shape of gilded works of art—human-sized dolls come to life or seemingly animate statuary. But beneath their resplendent finery lives a clockwork heart and hydraulic-fed piston limbs slaved to a harvested, living cortex and spliced-in nerve ganglia. Despite the wonder and sophistication of these creations, only the most depraved or foolhardy would attempt the sin of passing one as human or aping sentience too closely, for to do so would provoke the unbridled wrath of the Cult Mechanicus, and entire worlds have burned for this transgression in the past. *'Lathe Pattern Multitask Servitor' - The Lathe-pattern Multitask Servitor is one example of a number of common varieties of servitors designed to serve as a general assistant to Enginseers in the field. Although it lacks the dedicated specialities of a more purpose-built servitor, its versatility is invaluable when dealing with the chaotic theatres of war that Adeptus Mechanicus personnel must endure in support of the Imperial Guard. This servitor pattern is imprinted with advanced cogitator functions that allow it to follow complex instructions and operate in a wide variety of circumstances. *'Monotask Servitors' - A Monotask Servitor carries out the most tedious labours within a Space Marine Chapter. Techmarines often replace at least one of this kind of Servitor's hands with a less powerful version of their own Servo-arm manipulators. Monotask Servitors will not hold up long in the gruelling battles Space Marines face, but they can be useful on missions to carry out simple repairs, perform menial labours, and to stand sentry duty. *'Ministorum Choir Drone' - A light-weight form of Servitor drone, Choir Drones are found in Imperial cathedrals and Shrine Worlds across the Imperium. Most are configured to sing (in some extreme cases only a single note) and then gathered into choirs numbering anywhere from a few dozen to a thousand or more. Other Ministorum Drones may be set to repeat a sacred chant or prayer over and over, swing incense censers, turn prayer wheels, wave prayer flags, or play an instrument (such as blowing a sacred horn or beating on a drum). *'Murder Servitor' - The lobotomised cyborgs known as Servitors fulfil innumerable functions within the Imperium, and often outnumber sentient humans amongst the domains of the Adeptus Mechanicus. While most Servitors are slow and methodical in whatever routine task they exist to perform, the aptly named Murder Servitors are a breed apart. Since their circuit-laced brains have been inlaid with numerous kill-routines and slaughter-protocols, Murder Servitors are literal killing machines -- all the native viciousness of the human brain combined with the ruthless efficiency and durability of cold steel. Murder Servitors are almost exclusively utilised aboard spacecraft and orbital stations for a number of reasons. With limited space and resources for guards, Imperial prison starships controlled by the Inquisition often maintain a sizeable contingent of Murder Servitors. Hunched, evil things, Murder Servitors are smaller and quicker than their more benign cousins. Armed with blades and hooks and programmed with a homicidal nature, they stalk the passages of their assigned vessel, ambushing trespassers and dragging their corpses back to their Inquisitorial masters. Boarding actions and similar battles are often decided in brutal melee combat. As deadly as these battles are when Imperial forces clash with Traitors, ordinary humans are simply no match in these situations for many xenos. Orks, Genestealers, Eldar Corsairs, and other aliens are a major concern in many areas of human-occupied space. Armsmen, no matter how well-equipped and trained, can little hope to stand against such horrors within the narrow confines of a voidship or void station. Murder Servitors are brutally efficient against pirates or mutineers, where Gun Servitors that sport heavy ranged weaponry would be ill-suited to space combat. Murder Servitors could be very effective in other environments, from Death World jungles to teeming hive cities. However, as massive as Imperial starships are, they are still contained environments. Murder Servitors have been known to devolve or malfunction, locking into a kill-imperative and ignoring further commands to cease. If not contained, such deviant Servitors could even escape and go on to cause further slaughter amongst the population. **'Lathe Pattern Murder Servitor' - Commonly used aboard starships to supplement boarding parties and raiding forces, these Murder Servitors are ghoulish, skull-masked killing machines. The Lathe-Pattern, developed on and favoured by the augment-artisans of the Forge Worlds of the Calixis Sector known as The Lathes, is a hunched, predatory monster, driven by sadistic and aggressive Machine Spirits. Mono-talons and viscerator-limbs allow them to tear apart most living foes, while Melta-cutters allow them to burn through bulkheads and destroy equipment. Designed to intimidate as much as to kill, Lathe-Pattern Murder Servitors are consummate hunters, stalking their prey and moving with inhuman speed. If not ordered otherwise, they spend hours hunting any living creature not programmed into their spoor-targeters, undeterred by any obstruction and unhindered by fear or humanity. Their nature is intended to inspire dread, from their chrome skull-masks, to long, razor-sharp talons and steel weapon-limbs, to the electronic howls and moans of their Vox-boosted throats. *'Penitent Engine' - Although most Heretics are executed out of hand, and some are made into Arco-Flagellants, there are those for which even these fates aren't proper punishment. Heretics who have been sentenced to death, but truly wish to atone for their crimes and sins, may be given over to a Penitent Engine. Hard-wired directly to the Engine, the repentant pilot knows only death can grant him or her release, and thus they are often at the front of any battle, seeking both enemies to engage and an end to their suffering. Some devout worshippers have even been known to volunteer for such a fate, seeking to purge themselves of sins (both real and imagined), or to die in service to the Ordos of the Inquisition and the God-Emperor. *'Praetorian Servitors' - Praetorian Servitors are perhaps the most feared of all the Servitors, for they are a class of heavily-armed and armoured Gun Servitors deployed by the Adeptus Mechanicus to guard the Tech-priests and all temples dedicated to the Machine God to be found on the various Forge Worlds. Praetorian Servitors are massive constructs created from the vat-grown bodies of genetically-engineered giant humanoids or from mind-scrubbed Ogryns committed to the service of the Adeptus Mechanicus for some crime against the Emperor. As a result of their tremendous size, Praetorian Servitors tower over even Space Marines on the battlefield and their sheer size and intimidating appearance alone is often enough to dissuade attacks or wrongdoing. Praetorian Servitors are normally outfitted with tracks or mechanical legs to support their immense bulks and provide them with enhanced combat mobility. Praetorian Servitors can also be assigned to serve as bodyguards to important Tech-priests and to bolster the Mechanicus' Skitarii troops in particularly difficult combat situations where their heavy support can often win the day. *'Remidium Pattern ''Medicae ''Servitor' - One of a number of patterns of Medicae Servitor used throughout the Calixis Sector, the Remidium Pattern Servitor is known for its reliability and steady hands (such as they are). Often used when true medical staff are absent, the Remidium can perform numerous common procedures, including basic cybernetic implantation and augmentation. *'Samech Redemption Servitor' - The Samech Redemption Servitor was created by Dark Mechanicus Hereteks from the Dark Forge World of Samech to be used as a punishment reserved for criminals and unruly serfs. To become a Redemption Servitor is therefore a fate reserved for traitors, weaklings, and hated enemies of those in power. Many say that the feral intelligence of these drones still bears the tormented, malicious echoes of those now trapped in servitude. Scholars suspect the Redemption Pattern Servitor originated in the Lest District, where it remains extremely popular. However, the model can be found in use throughout the world of Samech and in the wider Jericho Reach. The pattern involves heavy replacement of the organic neck, arm, and leg joints with pivots that provide almost 360 degree rotation. The torso is then augmented with four additional limbs, creating a squat, arachnid profile. Most models also use Epidermal Armour Plating, although its design varies with the forge city of manufacture. The Redemption Servitor incorporates several pieces of Samech’s electromagnetic wargear, although it is of substantially poorer quality than the devices used by the world's Dark Magi. The standard configuration includes a Techxorcism Cannon—usually installed in the chest and fired through the gullet— for neutralising other technological enemies and scavenging machines that may not be completely inert. In order to reach and disassemble precarious wreckage, the Redemption Servitor contains an auxiliary magnetic repulsion system that allows them to traverse unstable structures, and its spindly limbs are capable of puncturing steel. These limbs also double as dangerous weapons, which the savage Servitor needs little provocation to use. The Redemption Pattern’s principal drawback is that its programming works as intended. In order to scavenge Samech’s wastes effectively, they must be relatively autonomous, with the capacity for self-repair and an instinct to seek out valuable technology. Not only does this cause the automatons to kill for the smallest scrap of tech, it has led to a high incidence of the Servitors infesting starships bound offworld, spreading these dangerous cyborgs across the galaxy. **'Guardian Configuration' - Magi employing Redemption Servitors for specific tasks usually replace their Plasma Cutters with more formidable armaments. Solid ammunition weapons are a popular choice, as an extended ammunition feed can be stored in the Servitor’s hollow chest cavity. Up to two climbing spindles can also have Chain or Power Weapons affixed without impacting the automaton’s climbing ability. **'Retriever Configuration' - Their feeding instincts make Redemption Servitors excellent at live capture, provided the target can be recovered from the Servitor afterwards. If one is employed for this purpose, a Webber is usually mounted on its exterior, and a primitive Auspex package is often added for tracking bio-signs. **'Skulker Configuration' - Despite a lack of physical or pictorial evidence, anecdotes persist of Redemption Servitors equipped for the sheer purpose of causing terror and disruption in Imperial populations. It is claimed that such versions have enhanced Vox units that produce a range of unhallowed cries. The units are also frequently described as being rusty and in poor repair. *'Self-Flagellant' - A Cherubim variant, Self-Flagellants are designed to inflict constant corporal mortification on an individual. Normally, this is accomplished through the use of Scoriada, but a particular Self-Flagellant may be programmed to take an individual's food away, interrupt his sleep, howl constantly, tug at his clothes and hair, or otherwise engage in nonstop acts of annoyance. In extreme cases, the Self-Flagellant has been set to inflict actual physical harm, usually by cutting the targeted individual with a small knife or replacing the Scoriada with an Excoriare. However, the Ecclesiarchy takes a dim view of such practices. *'Serfitor' - Servitors are a common sight on any of the Lathe Worlds of the Calixis Sector, where their tireless efforts aid in everything from basic factory work to combat operations. There are many working inside Heterodyne Station, though another variant unique to Uziel is more predominant across the rest of the planet. On that world, those who transgress against the will of the Cult Mechanicus are not permanently transformed into mindless cybernetic drones, but instead sentenced to the harshest of labour: the role of augmented Serfitor. Like all products from Heterodyne Station, Serfitors are another experiment in improving the manner that the Cult Mechanicus controls its subjects. They might be taken for the more mundane Servitors on other Imperial worlds, for much of their difference is not readily apparent. Their minds are not destroyed or lobotomised, only inhibited from independent thought through a series of cybernetic cranial implants. Each is linked to central command devices that the tech-barons keep under careful control, so that vast groups of what was once shambling flesh can operate in perfect harmony. Mem-chips were also implanted, granting them skills that would take many seasons to learn. Their bodies are braced with vat-grown tissue, so they can work with little rest. The sentence is not without consequence, for their bodies are altered through other, more obvious, mechanical intrusions to make them better workers. Arms are replaced with automated grain-tillers, legs with churning pistons to crush raw ores for smelting, eyes with thermal scanners for watching livestock; these and more are common Serfitor augmentations. Now freed from contrary thought, they work for the betterment of their lord and the Omnissiah they all serve. After their sentence is over, their personalities are restored to active awareness. Their lives, however, are permanently disfigured, and few can pay to have their augmentations properly removed and replaced with vat-grown flesh. Most are forced to continue labouring in exchange for implants they cannot excise, or live out the rest of their lives disfigured and crippled, a visible reminder to all not to displease the Machine God. *'Shade Servitor' - Hot environments are often doubly dangerous to travellers because they can compel visitors to a new planet to strip off their armour in order to withstand the heat, almost invariably a fatal mistake. Shade Servitors have no organic parts and are not, in fact, truly Servitors in the strict Imperial sense of the word, but more like robots. They are relatively small devices resembling a cone surmounted by a series of ceramic lamellar blades that swiftly rotate in different directions. The devices hover about their master, using their blades as natural fans and parasols, occasionally supplemented with a cold blast of air sent over an internal cooling coil. Shade Servitors have a small internal battery with a 12-hour reserve that constantly recharges via a series of photonic cells along their blades, allowing them to function near ceaselessly in hot, sunlit environments. *'Sibellus Pattern Suppressor Servitor' - When the Hive Sibellus Magistratum on Scintilla, the capital world of the Calixis Sector, needs to disperse crowds of rioters or belligerent hive residents, they employ Suppression Servitors to aid the Adeptus Arbites or their local Enforcers. Designed for intimidation and maximum semi-lethal force, these hulking brutes stand two and a half metres tall with a hunched, ape-like posture. Their faces have been replaced with the gilded seal of the Lord Sector, and one hand has been replaced with a massive pneumatic piston launcher capable of scattering rioters like leaves or tossing a single malefactor through the air with a crushed chest. The other arm has been removed entirely, replaced with a complicated dual weapon-attachment. The Magistratum knows that a squad of these can scatter a rampaging crowd of thousands, and they make a point of turning the instigators of these riots into the next batch of Suppression Servitors. *'Technical Servitors' - A Technical Servitor is a common sight in the Imperium as they are not really intended for use in combat but are very useful in assisting battlefield operations. These Servitors are often referred to as "mono-tasks", being physically augmented and programmed to perform only a single, very specific function. Commonly they are used as load lifters and cranes in construction tasks, but more exotic mono-tasks include the heavy weapon mount and the mobile weapons rack. These are the standard Servitors that accompany a Mechanicus Tech-priest. *'Vigilites Servitor' - Among the various Servitors of the Lathe Worlds are combat patterns capable of facing and overcoming specific enemies and situations. One such pattern, the Vigilies Servitor, is uniquely equipped to destroy foes who would twist the sacred complexity of the machine towards their own corrupt purpose. Each is a fast and deadly adversary, with vat grown muscular enhancements, servo-muscular fibres, mechanical augmentations, and advanced combat protocols for a variety of threats. Highly proficient in both ranged and melee combat, these elite guardians are the physical embodiment of the Machine Cult's wrath. Servo-skulls ]] Servo-skulls are drone-like robotic devices that appear to be human skulls outfitted with electronic and cybernetic components that utilise embedded anti-gravity field generators to allow them to hover and drift bodiless through the air. They are fashioned using robotic components from the skulls of loyal Adepts of the Adeptus Terra and other pious Imperial servants so that they may continue their work for the Emperor of Mankind even after death. Presumably, to have one's skull chosen to serve as a Servo-skull is a great honour in the Imperium. Servo-skulls form an important niche in Imperial work, serving as everything from auto-scribes that copy down important conversations and confessions of prisoners, to simple moving torches, hovering about their charge with candles and electric lanterns to illuminate the area. Certain Magi of the Adeptus Mechanicus and high-ranking Imperial officials have special logic engines or Cogitators (computers) that slave Servo-skulls to a particular owner. Servo-skulls are used throughout all the different governmental organisations of the Imperium of Man, and each is built to perform a certain task. Some are designed for military service, and among these some are built with enhanced optical sensors to allow them to serve as reconnaissance scouts. Servo-skulls are often used by Inquisitors and Inquisitor Lords as non-human assistants referred to as Familiars. In this case they are mentally linked to the Inquisitor through psychic or cybernetic means, allowing him to control them and see and hear through their senses. Sources *''Black Crusade: Broken Chains'' (RPG), pg. 31 *''Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines'' (8th Edition), pp. 85, 107, 137, 155 *''Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus'' (8th Edition), pp. 41, 47, 77 *''Codex: Astra Militarum'' (8th Edition), pp. 61, 100 *''Codex Imperialis'' (1st Edition), pp. 22, 41, 45 *''Codex: Space Marines'' (5th Edition) *''Codex: Space Marines'' (4th Edition) *''Dark Heresy: Core Rulebook'' (RPG), pp. 340-341 *''Dark Heresy: The Inquisitor's Handbook'' (RPG), pp. 141, 153 *''Dark Heresy: The Lathe Worlds'' (RPG), pp. 67-68, 100, 103 *''Dark Heresy: Blood of Martyrs'' (RPG), pp. 122-124 *''Dark Heresy: The Book of Judgement'' (RPG), pg. 75 *''Deathwatch: First Founding'' (RPG), pg. 107 *''Deathwatch: Mark of the Xenos'' (RPG), pp. 90-91 *''Only War: No Surrender'' (RPG), pg. 138 *''Only War: Shield of Humanity'' (RPG), pp. 121-124 *''Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned'', "The Cult Mechanicus" *''Rogue Trader: Core Rulebook'' (RPG), pp. 374-375 *''Rogue Trader: Hostile Acquisition'' (RPG), pg. 87 *''Deliverance Lost'' (Novel) by Gav Thorpe *''Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook'' (8th Edition), pg. 50 Gallery File:Servitor.jpg|Technical Servitor File:Gunserv.jpg|Gun Servitor with Implanted Heavy Bolter File:Combatserv.jpg|Combat Servitor with Implanted Electrowhip and Chainsword File:Cenobyte_Servitor_1.jpg|A Black Templars Chapter Cenobyte Servitor carrying a holy Chapter relic File:Cenobyte_Servitor_2.jpg|A Cenobyte Servitor of the Black Templars Chapter File:Samech_Redemption_Servitor.jpg|A Dark Mechanicus Samech Redemption Servitor Charron-Pattern Battle Servitor.jpg|Charron Pattern Battle Servitor Gun Servitor2.jpg|A Gun Servitor KataphronBreacher2.jpg|A Kataphron Breacher Battle Servitor armed with a Torsion Cannon KataphronDestroyer2.jpg|A Kataphron Destroyer Battle Servitor armed with a Heavy Graviton Cannon ES:Servidores Category:S Category:Imperial Technology Category:Imperium Category:Adeptus Mechanicus Category:Calixis Sector